The present invention is related to management of information. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a federated system and methods and mechanisms of implementing and using such a system.
Users attempting to locate specific information may need to access multiple data sources as information is frequently distributed across several data sources. Accessing multiple data sources individually, however, can be time consuming and complex, especially if the data sources are heterogeneous and/or have varying schemas. When the data sources are heterogeneous, a different adapter may be needed to access each type of data source. In addition, when schemas differ, knowledge of the schema of each data source to be queried may be necessary. Thus, there is a need to provide access to multiple data sources without requiring users to have knowledge of the format and schema of each data source.
One solution is to aggregate the data into a central location, e.g., a data warehouse, such that users will only need to access the data warehouse to find specific information. This solution, however, may be more expensive due to the costs of translating and/or duplicating the data and the additional resources that will be needed to maintain the data warehouse. Errors may also be introduced during the aggregation process through translation from one format to another. In addition, data sources may be located across company or organizational boundaries. Owners of these data sources, although willing to give others access to the information therein, may not consent to the information being duplicated and stored at another location. Moreover, the data warehouse may have duplicated pieces of information since various data sources may have identical pieces of information. Thus, there is also a need to provide a blend of information that is available from multiple data sources without having duplicated data, while allowing the information to remain in its original locations.
The present invention provides a federated system and methods and mechanisms of implementing and using such a system. In one embodiment, a federated system includes multiple data sources and one or more nodes. In the embodiment, each data source is associated with a taxonomy and at least one of the nodes includes a taxonomy view. One or more of the data sources are defined on the at least one node. The at least one node also includes one or more mappings between the taxonomy view of the node and the taxonomy of each data source defined on the node. The node may be connected to one or more clients in some embodiments.
In another embodiment, multiple data sources are defined on a node. Each data source is associated with a taxonomy. A taxonomy view is established at the node and one or more mappings between the taxonomy view of the node and the taxonomy of at least one of the data sources defined on the node are created. The data sources are then accessed via the taxonomy view of the node.
In a further embodiment, various data sources with content are accessed. Content from at least two of the data sources are obtained and one or more mappings between the content of the at least two data sources are created. The obtained content from the at least two data sources are merged using the one or more mappings and the merged content is provided to one or more clients.
Further details of aspects, objects, and advantages of the invention are described below in the detailed description, drawings, and claims. Both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory, and are not intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention.